It’s Female Founder Friday, and I couldn’t be more pleased to introduce you to Julia Enthoven, the woman entrepreneur behind Kapwing. Her company is a video creation platform that makes it easier to make and edit video by bringing tools, content, and inspiration to the browser. Kapwing is free to use and accessible from any device. It helps influencers, artists, brands, and creative individuals make thousands of videos everyday!

So, if you’re curious about the startup story of how a former Google employee saw a megatrend and left corporate life to launch her company, or want to know her theme song (which is also one of mine)…. don’t miss Julia’s answers and advice for other female founders below!

What inspired you to create your company?

Eric, my co-founder, and I started learning about visual content when we worked together on Google Image Search. We saw both on our own social media feeds and through Google Search trends the rise of a new kind of video: short-form, ephemeral, high-volume video made to entertain and tell stories on social media. Although video has changed a lot, the tools to create video haven’t. We had both felt the pain and slowness of iMovie and Premiere many times and, when we noticed the video megatrend, set out to make something better and more modern.

What was your biggest obstacle and failure in going from idea to business?

Since building and launching Kapwing, I learned so much about distribution and marketing. Even when we had a live product, we realized no one would visit our website because no one knew about it. We had to figure out how to drive traffic to the website. We tried dozens of things that failed: cold outreach to journalists, paid advertising, mass emails to customers, and more. In the end, we realized that SEO was the most important vehicle for distributing our product and have focused on organic discovery and viral marketing.

Another major obstacle was self-doubt. There are lots of uncertainties and risks in growing a business, and it’s difficult to get anything done when you’re distracted by the possibility of failure. There were days when we spent so much time analyzing and worrying that we made no progress. We have always learned more by doing than by overthinking.

What are you afraid of?

My highest priority is preserving the relationship between me and my co-founder. Co-founder feuds are the most common reason that early-stage companies fail, so emotional disagreements or heated debates feel high stakes. To ensure that Kapwing succeeds and that we’re both happy at work, we invest time in making sure we resolve disagreements, give each other feedback, and set up processes to make decisions more efficiently.

What’s next?

We just closed our seed round, so my next milestone is a press announcement and hiring engineers! I’m thrilled to be given the opportunity to grow our engineering team and accelerate product development. I’ve never done recruiting before and it’s challenging and exciting to talk to new candidates about joining my business.

What is a life or business hack that you recommend to help other female founders?

Business hack: If you don’t know about Product Hunt, you should learn about it! It’s an amazing community for finding new products that might be useful to your business and an awesome forum for launching new products that you’ve built.

Life hack: Coffee!

If you had a theme song what would it be?

“How Far I’ll Go,” from Disney’s Moana! In the past, I’ve felt insecure about my own ambition, but Moana’s song inspires me to strive and push myself further. Great song for any female entrepreneur.

Please share your best piece of advice for aspiring female founders.

Do! You don’t need to have it all figured out – just go, try, do things and you will learn as you go. Entrepreneurs don’t have master plans or flawless visions; they fake it until they make it and appear more confident than they actually are. It’s easy to feel insecure or afraid because you’re trying something that hasn’t been done before, but don’t let that stop you from innovating or trusting your gut.

It’s Female Founder Friday, and I’m excited to introduce you to Francie Wasser, the woman entrepreneur behind FranciePants. FranciePants is a line of beautiful, stylish 100% cotton women’s underwear that is handcrafted by local Sewing Artists (U.S. residents) and offered in an extensive range of sizes that fit the entire market (0-32).

I recently watched Francie at a D.C. pitch contest, and she is passionate about her product and committed to her vision for disrupting traditional manufacturing. Francie Pants Sewing Artists are taught in an apprentice-like model that not only teaches time-honored skills, but allows them to earn a generous wage for their work, on a flexible schedule, working as much or as little as they choose. Francie’s business model empowers people to take control of their careers and incomes while balancing other priorities.

So, if you’re curious how a trip to the doctor resulted in an underwear company with a mission to improve women’s health and body image, don’t miss Francie’s candid and thoughtful answers to my questions below.

What inspired you to create your company?

Like so many founders out there, I was inspired to create FranciePants because I was looking for a product which did not exist. Based on my doctor’s recommendation, I sought 100% cotton underwear to help prevent recurring vaginal infections – and I know I was not alone. Seventy-five percent of American women experience at least one vaginal infection in their lifetimes and 20% will this year alone. That’s at least 33M women who would benefit for wearing 100% cotton underwear regularly. Despite that, the 100% cotton options on the market have dwindled. Most women’s underwear is made of synthetic blends. The cotton out there is often not 100% and that which is falls into the “granny panty” category. I wanted cute prints and modern styles and I was unwilling to sacrifice on style in order to wear the fiber my body needed.

My second major inspiration is an idea that will revolutionize manufacturing in the United States and create thousands of well-paid flexible jobs. I call it crowd manufacturing. All FranciePants are sewn by members of our community who work from home. They are paid generously to work as much or as little as they want on a weekly basis. This opportunity is important because there are so many Americans who want to work and need flexibility so they can take care of the things that matter to them, whether that is caring for family, starting a business, or serving their communities. There are already 68M Americans who work contract jobs and 4.8M who do gig economy jobs. That number is expected to grow to 9.2M by 2021. However, these jobs are not accessible to everyone. Women, retirees, those with physical disabilities, the formerly incarcerated, and the economically disadvantaged all have a difficult time finding flexible well paid work. FranciePants provides jobs that work for everyone without the encumbrance or inflexibility of a traditional work schedule.

Since founding the business I add a third inspiration to the list, that keeps me going, even when the going gets tough. FranciePants is a brand about helping women feel confident, beautiful, empowered, and like themselves, at all points in their lives, and at all sizes. While there are several new brands who are offering extended sizes, there are still far too few. It is exceptionally difficult for many women to find their size and to find styles that fit them the way they want. It is also exceptionally difficult for many women to feel good about themselves and the way their body looks when they see so few women who look like them confidently and joyfully expressing their personalities and style. FranciePants seeks to flood our consciousness with new images of diverse women, thus helping us to retrain our brains to see the beauty that has been there all along.

What was your biggest obstacle and failure in going from idea to business?

By far the biggest obstacle for FranciePants is efficiently finding and communicating with women who are inspired by our products and who value our mission. Part of that obstacle includes educating women about the benefits of 100% cotton for them personally, and sharing our vision for how we can support each other by buying products made by one another. Marketing is difficult, as some of our target demographics are not as easy to reach through social media as others. We seek customers who are eager to pay a little more for products that make the world a better place and we are actively exploring many ways to meet and inspire them.

I generally focus on gratitude for l have learned when I make “mistakes,” and so I also rarely identify and name “failures.” That said, one failure I now understand held back the business was a failure to plan for and seek outside investment early on. I started out, like so many entrepreneurs, thinking I would “bootstrap” the business, i.e. finance the business using my own money rather than seek investment. There are many folks who advise entrepreneurs to bootstrap for as long as possible. Indeed, there are several benefits to doing so. However, in my financial situation (some savings, but not enough to sustain the business for years) I wish I had planned for investment from the start. While most business loans are only available to businesses that have been generating revenue for at least two years, there are some who help specific target demographics who are pre-revenue. By the time I learned this I was already in debt from my business and no longer in a good position to apply for those loans. Furthermore, more cash available upfront enables bigger and more effective investments to help grow the business more quickly, which I cannot manage without outside investment.

What are you afraid of?

I find that my fears fluctuate over time. In my strong and confident moments, I feel powerful and my fears fade. In weaker or weary moments fears creep up. My true biggest fear is one of personal financial ruin. I have invested so much in this business that I am already more than “all in.” I temper this feeling by reminding myself that I have an exit plan if I face a true financial emergency and that my personal value is not determined by my bank account level. I have made money before and I can do it again in the future.

I also worry about failing to overcoming challenges quickly enough. For example, I need to improve our conversion rate of website visitors. (I need a higher percentage of people who visit the website to decide to make a purchase.) Ultimately, even if I can overcome any obstacle with this business, I also need to be able to do it quickly enough, with the level of funding available, until the business is organically and profitably growing.

What’s next?

As soon as we wrap up our successful Kickstarter campaign on July 13, 2018, I am excited to use the proceeds to open a new Pod of Sewing Artists in Baltimore at Open Works. We already have a waiting list of women who want to work for FranciePants and I cannot wait to train, certify, and start paying them to work as much or as little as they want as we fill our Kickstarter orders. I also thrilled for our new customers to receive their orders later this fall.

While I cannot go into detail about it, FranciePants is excited to grow our team, marketing efforts, and business overall, with the support of new partners later this year. We will also showcase at DC Swim Week, July 26-27, at the French Embassy, and be available for sale for a limited time at Femme Fatale starting August first.

What is a life or business hack that you recommend to help other female founders?

When you find that you are experiencing friction with a task or a personal matter, rather than ignore it or continue to let the task go undone and wear on you, confront it! Figure out why you are so [fill in emotion here] about the task. Then figure out a NEW way to address the task or challenge that helps you feel better about it. Often that might involve outsourcing the task. If you hate accounting, or sending payment reminders to clients, or making power point decks, find totally new ways to do them. It is a waste of precious energy to fight yourself into doing things that are not your special gift (the gift that inspired you to start this business and is the reason you have already gotten as far as you have).

Sometimes hiring a contractor to do a service part time is the answer and easily worth the money because it is a more efficient choice. For example, I hired a bookkeeper and removed a lot of stress for myself. As another example, I find Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator almost impossible to use. Even after taking classes I am still overwhelmed when I try. So, now I contract a graphic designer sometimes and use the online tool Canva which is much easier to use and good enough for a lot of small graphic design tasks.

I also recommend finding a good task management platform. You need somewhere to dump all your ideas and lists of things you have to do, for the business and personally, so you do not feel pressure to keep them all in your head at once. I like to use Asana, because I can make nested lists, organize tasks by project, and assign tasks to team members. It works great from my phone and online and is free for the basic service.

If you had a theme song what would it be?

“Can’t Hold Us,” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. This song energizes and inspires me every time. It aligns with my personal commitment to putting everything into what I do, succeeding together, with and for each other, doing it our way, and celebrating our authentic selves as we do.

Please share your best piece of advice for aspiring female founders.

Develop an inner circle who will encourage you in the tough moments. This might eventually be a board for your business, but more likely I imagine it is a group of close friends. No matter what, there will be moments when you doubt yourself, question your convictions, and even your sanity for passionately pursuing your goals, despite the obstacles. Most people will NOT understand why you do what you do. Many people, even those who love you, sometimes especially those who love you, might not understand why you pursue your business either. Thus, those who are normally our inner circle might not be the best suited for the role of cheerleader. Consider people who are not family, have no ties to the business, know what you are capable of, and are confident and steadfast in their personal convictions. These are the ones to reach out to when you feel weak, weary, or scared. Do reach out to them. Do not keep these feelings inside because they will distract and sabotage you.

Also, read the book Playing Big by Tara Mohr, if you have not already.

It’s Female Founder Friday, and it is a pleasure to introduce you to woman entrepreneur, Dorie Howell. Dorie is the founder of IPS Mastermind, a unique, online learning community for photographers who want to learn how to run successful and profitable businesses. Through the IPS Mastermind membership, photographers gain access to over 60 classes focused on marketing, pricing, customer experience, sales, and more. IPS classes are taught by a diverse group of working photographers enabling our members to receive input and advice from a variety of viewpoints and experiences. Members can also engage in a strong social community that provides them support and encouragement from like-minded business owners and instructors.

So if you’re considering a photography business, or are curious how a formally trained opera singer ended up building a huge learning and support community for photographers…. Don’t miss Dorie’s startup story and sage advice for fellow female founders below.

What inspired you to create your company?

When we started IPS Mastermind we were looking to solve a problem for ourselves. My business partner and I were looking for real help and advice from other photographers who had traveled this journey before us, and we didn’t want to get all of this information from one place like a standard mentorship program. We wanted insight and ideas from lots of places. As photography business owners, so many times we learn how to capture great images but we aren’t taught how to sell them in a way that is profitable or sustainable for small businesses. My partner and I wanted that kind of education. It didn’t exist so we created it. We were already running a Facebook group of almost 35,000 members at the time, so we knew we had a message that people wanted to hear and were coming to our space on Facebook to learn. Now our Facebook group is about to celebrate 60,000 members and we have a couple thousand in our paid membership. Watching it grow and seeing how we have helped so many people has been one of my biggest rewards.

What was your biggest obstacle and failure in going from idea to business?

Wow, so many. Moving from full-time photographer to full-time membership site owner (while still an active, working photographer) was not easy. There were so many things that I didn’t know and really had no resources to find the answers to. So little by little, when a problem came up I went out and found people to help solve the problem. I wish I could say that after two years we were free of obstacles but that simply isn’t the case.

I think the biggest problem was moving past the idea that when we had a problem we could ask a few people who “knew a guy” who could help. We moved out of the “we know a guy” part of our business very quickly so finding great, qualified assistance in certain areas was hard, expensive and necessary. Oh, and time, there simply is not enough time to get everything done that needs to be done.

The other obstacle or challenge was that my business partner and I started our business not really knowing each other… AT ALL. We knew each other online and had met at a dinner once, but that was it. It was one of those whirlwind things that just sort of happened. Like when you hear of people who meet each other and are married three weeks later. It happened so fast! We were at a conference, were roommates and at the end of four days, we had a plan in place to start a business. This isn’t something that I would recommend for most people but for us, it worked. It hasn’t always been easy, after all, not everyone wants to do things the same way even when you have a common goal. However, I feel incredibly fortunate that our partnership has remained strong and we have been able to respect each other’s differences while staying true to what we set out to do for our members.

What are you afraid of?

I am not one that lives in fear. But I think with IPS Mastermind I do feel an incredible obligation to our members and to our staff. I never want to let them down in any way. I know that our business has absolutely changed the lives of many of our members and staff. We hear the success stories every day. With that comes an incredible responsibility that I don’t take lightly.

What’s next?

We are moving from a simple membership site to something that will enable small group coaching, live events, and even better member-driven content. There are so many directions we can go with what we are doing, that the options are really endless. It is very exciting! On the personal front, I am looking forward to my speaking opportunities this year at several local Professional Photographers of America Chapters around the country and traveling around the country to meet our members face to face.

What is a life or business hack that you recommend to help other female founders?

Outsource, Outsource, Outsource. Even before you think you can afford it. You can easily get bogged down in the weeds of the everyday tasks that someone else can be trained to do. Give someone else the opportunity of doing that job so you can concentrate on what you really should be doing in your business. The dreariness of what is holding you down can become someone else’s blessing.

If you had a theme song what would it be?

I am a formally trained Opera Singer so I have lots of songs that I love that inspire me. They all hit me at different times depending on the situation. I also love Musical Theater and there is such great inspiration from the stories that are told from the stage. And I have been know to break out belting the Backstreet Boys on occasion. I simply do not think I can name one particular song but some of my favorites in different genres are “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen,” sung by the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute by Mozart. “Great I Am,” by Phillips, Craig and Dean. This song, especially when performed with a full orchestra just moves me so much. “My Shot,” from Hamilton, “Defying Gravity,” from Wicked. “Roar” by Katy Perry and finally one of the best songs ever, “I Want it that Way,” by the Backstreet Boys. I could go on and on…

Please share your best piece of advice for aspiring female founders.

Be true to yourself and your vision, but don’t get so stuck in your vision that you can’t be flexible and adapt as you develop your plan. So many times we start with an idea and the end result doesn’t look anything like we thought it would when we started. That is okay. We change and adapt as people, so it makes sense that our businesses do as well.

It’s Female Founder Friday, and I’m delighted to share the story of woman entrepreneur behind LePrix. Elise Whang’s company is a tech-enabled platform focusing on bringing the $20B brick-and-mortar designer consignment stores online and into the 21st Century. LePrix is a virtual mall of hundreds of pre-verified designer resale businesses in one place looking to be accessible to online customers. They are an early stage business to business and business to consumer brand with a mission to help get brick-and-mortar resale stores online to grow with the explosion of ecommerce.

Elise was a part of an accelerator that my husband’s startup was in, and as soon as I heard about what her company did I loved the idea! What woman doesn’t love designer consignment shopping without having to find time to shop in-person? Aside from her brilliant business idea, I am always impressed by Elise’s composure, tenacity, wardrobe (of course,) and generous spirit. She is forever helping others, and is someone I love watching succeed in business.

So, if you’re curious how a lawyer ended up launching a fashion tech company, or are living through a “candid feedback” moment in your business… don’t miss Elise’s candid answers and advice for female founders below!

What inspired you to create your company?

We started LePrix (formerly known as SnobSwap), out of our own frustration of not being able to easily access our favorite brick-and-mortar designer consignment stores online. I was a lawyer and my co-founder was a consultant who worked long hours and we simply could not make it to the stores before they closed. Part of the fun of going to these stores was the personal relationships with the store owner and their team. As we got to know them, we found that they also struggled to get their store online but really wanted to figure out how to do so efficiently. So an idea was set in motion to build a curated Amazon for the best designer resale boutiques, and we’re now making into a reality!

What was your biggest obstacle and failure in going from idea to business?

The biggest obstacles and failures have become our biggest accomplishments. We started the business as SnobSwap, where people could shop consignment stores and swap their clothes. Hence the “swap” in SnobSwap. Before launch we asked customers if they wanted to shop consignment stores online and there was a resounding YES. But we should’ve also asked potential customers if they liked the name SnobSwap and tested swapping with real life examples. We just ran with it but realized that in practice, swapping online was difficult to find a good swap match – kinda like dating. So we ran surveys and gathered data. About 84% of customers and stores hated our name. It was a big bummer to hear your baby was ugly but we needed to know that.

We decided to take a look at the data also saw that making a successful swap match was difficult. Fast-forward, we phased out the “swapping” part of the business and rebranded to better reflect our core business which is utilize technology to bring online access to the the best designer consignment stores around the world. We recently rebranded to LePrix which means the “Prize” in French – perfect in describing the feeling of when you find that one special designer piece in a consignment store at an amazing price – it feels like you won a Prize. We have seen scalability and rapid growth ever since these pivots. Long story short, sometimes what seem like mistakes can turn into magic as long as you learn from them.

What are you afraid of?

Honestly, I’m afraid of being another female founder statistic who is not able to raise a Series A. Only 2% of female founders are given the opportunity to raise venture funding. However, I am grateful that we have current investors who are able to recognize that we have built a great business with huge potential, and can look past gender and the products (used handbags and shoes) on our site. The odds are against us, but that makes us stronger to work even harder to change that. I am excited to see this revolution in funding more female founders.

What’s next?

Now that we’ve rebranded to LePrix and have built a solid supply chain consisting of over 500 store partners and a scalable technology (i.e., inventory sync tools), we will be focused on growing the demand side of the marketplace with marketing. This is the exciting part where we get to tell the world about LePrix and help grow sales for the wonderful stores we now work with.

What is a life or business hack that you recommend to help other female founders?

Make sure you delegate jobs that will allow you time to be the CEO or even sleep a little more. I still have a hard time delegating or asking for help, but when I remember to do it, the results are usually amazing. You need to scale yourself and trust your team to run with it.

Be excellent in your work and worship. Startup life will require more work than you can imagine and lots of praying – both will get you through the best of times and the worst of times and move your business forward.

Entrepreneurs are idea people. Some of us have a technical background, and some of us don’t. We all see solutions when other people see problems, or we see frustrations as opportunities to innovate. How we “see” sets entrepreneurs apart from most of the population, but how we “talk” can separate us from each other and from creating the solutions and innovations in our heads.

When I founded MissNowMrs, I had had the idea to create a form-automation SAAS product for brides. How many of you read SAAS and either wondered what it was or Googled it? SAAS stands for Software As A Service. I certainly didn’t know what SAAS was when I started my entrepreneurial journey, despite the fact that that was the format of the solution what I was building. I managed to stumble along, read HTML For Dummies, and eventually self-educate on technical terminology. Sounds super fun and fast right?

One of the most common sentences I hear from almost-entrepreneurs is “I have this amazing idea, but I don’t know how to build it.” The problem is identified, and only the tenacious ones take the time to figure out how to explain their solution, learn what systems might support it, and look for someone with technical experience to guide them. The rest never get past the “not knowing how barrier, and that bothers me.

Fortunately, you do not have to go through the same struggle. The awesome entrepreneurs at Hatch have created a site to help bridge the gap between “non-technical” folks, and their more technical counterparts. It’s called How to Talk Tech and it’s a free and interactive technical glossary to help people speak with their developers, product managers…and the other techie people in their lives.

The site’s flashcards teach and review basic technology vocabulary and computer science terms. It’s a godsend to non-technical entrepreneurs as you hire, manage, and collaborate with software engineers, your CTO, or other members of your technical team.

No need to struggle, stumble, and feel dumb. The tool you need is waiting for you. Kudos to the Hatch team for find a way to foster the communication that is necessary to create innovation!

It’s Female Founder Friday, and I couldn’t be more excited to introduce you to Stacey Kehoe. She’s the woman entrepreneur who founded Digital Marketing agency, Brandlective. Her fast growth business focuses on giving online visibility to brands that are bold, ooze credibility and want to get noticed. Assisting sometimes controversial CEO’s and brands has led to Stacey and her team to be nominated for series of awards in the Entrepreneurial sector gaining recognition for their creative and wacky approach to marketing. Stacey also founded The Vault, a podcast, magazine and membership website for startup businesses.

So, if you’re curious how an accidental entrepreneur taught herself the skills to build a successful media company that focuses on the unglamourous sales world… don’t miss our first British entrepreneur’s journey and advice below!

What inspired you to create your company?

I am an accidental entrepreneur. My friends try to tell me this isn’t true because I have a very entrepreneurial family so they assumed I was born to run a business. But that’s not true. I was made redundant three times during the economic crisis and was pushed outside my comfort zone to the point where I started in an entirely new industry. I used my passion for connecting with people in the world of sales and realized that businesses in this sector had really poor branding and did not market themselves well. I convinced my boss at the time to let me take on that part of the business. I had no idea what I was doing so I did online courses, read books and taught myself how to build a digital brand.

Over two years, I did such a great job with it that I was approached by competitors who were asking ‘What are you guys doing with your brand? Who is managing your social media? How did you become so prominent on Google search?’. The sales industry has a negative image, people see it as aggressive, pushy and money-hungry. I was so fortunate that my boss had a huge life goal, which was to enhance the reputation of the sales industry as a whole and make it an attractive career prospect again. She is a big-picture thinking and thought beyond her immediate business. It was her that said that I should help those competitors to build positive, strong, exciting brands and join her mission to reposition the sales industry as an exciting industry to work in. So essentially, she gave me her blessing to begin my freelancing career.

Through word of mouth, my client portfolio grew and before I knew it, I was incorporating my first business, Brandlective Communications Ltd, a digital marketing agency in London. I now have over 100+ clients and have started a second investment business. My inspiration for starting Brandlective Communications was very organic, I would love to say it was a big master plan that I had but it really has happened very naturally for me and I think that is important for aspiring business owners to know – not all journey of success are planned right from the beginning – the lesson I have taken from this is that when you see an opportunity – grab it with both hands and hold on for the ride.

What was your biggest obstacle and failure in going from idea to business?

Myself. I know I’m not alone on this, but it was my own mindset.

What are you afraid of?

When I was first starting out, I had a fear of success. Receiving positive recognition was uncomfortable for me. I’ve realised that people often confuse this with a ‘fear of failure’, but it’s not the same thing. If you are scared of failing, you do everything in your power to ensure you succeed. The transition from freelancing to owning a business was a huge step and took me longer than it should have. I had to deal with some of my own insecurities. Like the fear of being judged by others. I was terrified that people wouldn’t take me seriously. As it turns out, most people think I’m courageous for starting a business and chasing my own ambitions.

Now that I have run a successful business for nearly seven years, the thing that I am most afraid of is not making a big enough impact. I combat this by trying to slow down and recognize the opportunities that I have created for my team, for my clients and more recently for the contributions my business now makes to charities all around the globe through our giving initiatives. Check out our global impact here!

What’s next?

I am currently writing a book. This has been something I have thought about for a few years. Finding the right publisher and knowing exactly what value I could offer has taken some time but I am working on a publishing date in late 2018. It will walk startup business owners through my 6-step marketing methodology which we call ‘The Gamechanger’. My podcast, The Vault, is also due to launch next month along-side our membership community which is exciting and I am also starting to think about training workshops for 2019.

What is a life or business hack that you recommend to help other female founders?

Connect with other business owners. People always say your ‘network is your net worth’ and it is true. It is human nature to evolve, morph and adapt to our environments. Create an environment that will have a positive impact on your evolution. If you surround yourself with those that are 1 or 2 steps ahead of you, your business will progress faster than you could have ever imagined.

If you had a theme song what would it be?

I like the lyrics from “Best Day of My Life,” by American Authors. It’s about making a conscious decision that today will be a good day (rather than allowing they day to control me – I can decide how I will react to today’s events).

Please share your best piece of advice for aspiring female founders.

Adapt and leverage. Be willing AND ABLE to change and evolve with every new challenge that is thrown your way. The reason some people succeed and most people fail is persistence – don’t give up. Every time it is hard, and a challenge is thrown your way be persistent and willing to adapt to trends, challenges, clients needs and whatever else happens. And leverage. Leverage every opportunity, say yes to collaborations, say yes to guest blogging and free speaking engagements – the more you get seen and known for your expertise the easier it is to leverage more significant business opportunities.

It’s Female Founder Friday, and I’m delighted to spotlight Tanya Van Court. Tanya is the woman entrepreneur behind Goalsetter. Goalsetter is a goal-based savings and gifting platform built just for kids, and powered by those who love them. Goalsetter lets parents auto-save towards their kid’s goals, lets kids earn money in support of their own dreams, and lets family and friends get in on the action by giving kids they love GoalCards – real money towards real dreams – instead of traditional gift cards. Ultimately, Goalsetter teaches kids healthy financial habits, and instills in them the notion that good things really do come to those who save.

So, if you’re curious why a Stanford Double-Engineer and Nickelodeon executive made the leap to become female founder, what the benefits of business acclerators are, or want to learn more about becoming a mompreneur, don’t miss Tanya’s answers and advice below!

What inspired you to create your company?

My daughter Gabrielle told me that for her 9th birthday, she only wanted two things: enough money to start an investment account and a bike. I knew that instead, she would likely receive $400 worth of “stuff” that she didn’t want, need or use: a sew-your-own purse kit, a make-your-own-gum kit, and lots of well-intentioned gifts that ultimately went to waste. When I talked to other moms, and then conducted a survey of 500 moms across the country, 2 out of 3 said that they wished there were a better way to celebrate birthdays and holidays because their kids had too much stuff. I instinctively knew that helping kids to save for goals – big and small, short-term and long-term, was a far better way of celebrating them and supporting them, but also a better way of teaching them healthy financial habits that would last a lifetime.

What was your biggest obstacle and failure in going from idea to business?

As a former Nickelodeon executive, I know well how critical it is to surround yourself with people who have expertise that is different than – and complementary to – yours. Since I am not a coder, I knew early on that I needed software developers to complement my efforts.

My biggest obstacle was not finding and hiring that technical expertise as a core part of my team at the outset. Instead, I built my first platform overseas, and the time differences made it impossible to communicate efficiently or effectively. While the hourly rate that I was paying was half what I would have paid in the United States, development ultimately cost me twice as much and took me twice as long. Having a technical team in-house has completely changed the game in terms of the velocity with which we can develop and iterate our platform, and ensure it’s meeting the needs of customers.

Tell us about your incubator experience.

We were in an Accelerator in 2017, called ERA. It is the oldest seed-stage accelerator in NYC, and was a game-changer for me and the trajectory of my company. Starting a business is a little like learning to be a physician – there are troves of information you need to learn, but also significant amounts of practical experience that you need to acquire in order to become proficient. The team at ERA have seen companies succeed – and fail – so they know what those harbingers of success look like, and they know how to provide you the the knowledge, resources, and insights to shorten your learning curve and make it a wee bit less painful.

We are currently part of the Morgan Stanley Multicultural Accelerator Program, and it’s a completely different, yet equally gratifying, experience. Morgan Stanley offers a wealth of resources to its companies through the accelerator process, including capital, content and connections. Having high-level mentorship from one of the most prestigious financial services companies in the world is like finding gold at the end of a rainbow. While I innovate, they are helping me with the inroads and connections to help our innovation penetrate larger markets.

What’s next?

We are adding more and more parents and kids to our platform every day, and that gives us the special opportunity to talk to our users and find out what they want more of. We already have an awesome mobile site, where Goalsetter enables kids to save for goals, parents to auto-save towards their kids’ goals, and family members and friends to use birthdays and holidays to give gifts of money towards goals that matter. We also have an allowance feature that enables kids to earn money towards their own goals. Soon, we will also launch an app that we think kids and parents will both love.

What is a life or business hack that you recommend to help other female founders?

As women, we often find it difficult to ask for help. We spend our lives helping others, so when we become founders and are most in need of receiving help, we are reticent about asking. So my first business hack may seem surprisingly simple, but it’s the most important thing you can do as a woman founder: Ask for help. The hack that goes hand in hand with it is: Always end conversations asking what you can do for the other person. Even (and especially) if the conversation was replete with asks on your end, just asking “What can I do for you?” goes a long way.

If you had a theme song what would it be?

“Survivor,” by Destiny’s Child. I lost my mother by the age of 6, and lost a child when I was 36. I have seen how tough life can be, yet I’ve also seen that pain can be the birthplace of purpose. I believe that the only way to see the beautiful, amazing sunrises that life offers is to make it through the dark nights – because we all experience those times, and it is definitely true that the dark always precedes the dawn.

Please share your best piece of advice for aspiring female founders.

Don’t expect life or entrepreneurship to be fair – they’re not. But there are amazing people who will absolutely help you along your journey. Find them, and then give as much as you receive to make this start-up universe better for all of us.

It’s Female Founder Friday, and I’m pleased to share the startup story of woman entrepreneur, Rebecca Borough. Rebecca was looking for a way to combine her passion for education and youth development with a business plan that would not only serve a social mission, but create real value for companies. Her search ended when she had the idea for Knit Marketing! Knit Marketing is a digital marketing agency that empowers diverse youth in Los Angeles to learn as staff members specializing in GenZ and Millennial marketing through social media management, content creation, and web development.

The story of how I’m connected to Rebecca is rather interesting. One of her employees has been reading my blog and emailed me to suggest her boss. Her note shows what a positive impact Rebecca and Knit Marketing are making! Yesenia wrote:

“I work for Knit Marketing, and reading your blog reminded me of my boss, Rebecca Borough, who is a female founder I really look up to. She created Knit Marketing, a social enterprise digital marking agency that helps businesses grow while employing untapped youth that need work experience, like me. The “like me” rung very true to me. Haven’t we all been young and searching for a place to gain work experience outside of fast food restaurants? I would have loved to participate in an enterprise like Knit Marketing instead of working at Denny’s on the Pennsylvania turnpike. I’m sure my work experience would have been much more helpful in my life as an entrepreneur.”

So, if you want to know more about how Rebecca came up with Knit Marketing, or are curious about social entrepreneurship, don’t miss Rebecca’s answers and advice below.

What inspired you to create your company?

I wanted to work with youth to give them a learning opportunity and I also had a background in marketing. It seemed like an obvious connection to employ teens who are already on social media all the time to run digital marketing campaigns.

What was your biggest obstacle and failure in going from idea to business?

We didn’t have any challenges going from idea to business. I had support and training from grad school and a project accelerator that I participated in, so when I started with my first team and client, we were prepared to launch. We took things slow and grew little by little. We’re facing the biggest obstacle right now, in scaling enough to be sustainable. We’ve had organic growth the first two years, and have reached a point where we’ve brought on more team members and are trying to figure out what’s next. We have a few initiatives in the works, so time will tell what ends up sticking.

What’s next??

We’ll be bringing on more team members this summer and expanding our product offering to host regular marketing workshops as well as growing our annual Get Stuff Done Conference. We’re also growing Knit Marketing’s client base through advertising, networking, and developing an in-house sales team.

What is a life or business hack that you recommend to help other female founders?

It’s sort of the opposite of a hack – don’t cut corners in life or in business. Take time to read, learn, walk, eat well, rest, and do whatever you need to do to make yourself a stronger whole person. In business, take time to develop skills and develop your team members and co-workers by training them and exposing to anything that will make them dream big. All these things take time in the short run, but will greatly benefit you and the people around you in the long run.

If you had a theme song what would it be?

Right now, for Knit, it’s Ruth B’s “Lost Boy,” because we’re in a dreaming Neverland stage, finding it hard to grow up, but having lots of fun!

Another more depressing personal one is Regina Spektor’s “Hero,” because I constantly feel like we’re fighting against so much to just be the hero of our own stories.

Please share your best piece of advice for aspiring female founders.

Don’t take this the wrong way, but try not to complain about life being so hard because you’re a female. It’s true that there are fewer opportunities and the world is not equal, but play to your strengths. If you’re selling a product or service that people need, no one cares what gender or color you are. Spend more time creating something meaningful, something that speaks to the world, and less time wondering how you’ll achieve your dreams even though the cards are stacked against you. In fact, it’s a really exciting time to be a female founder, and you can definitely use it to your advantage.

This Female Founder Friday I’m happy to share the story of woman entrepreneur, Kristin Marquet. Kristen is the founder of FemFounder, an online resource where female entrepreneurs can go to get free tips, tricks, advice, tools, and resources on just about every aspect of running a business. Kristen left the safety of a corporate PR job to go out on her own, and learned more than a few things on her journey.

So, if you’re entrepreneur-curious or currently building your business, don’t miss Kristin’s honest answers about working in a job she didn’t enjoy and struggling to find the clarity that eventually led to the success of her business. We’ve all struggled and wished for a “magic 8 ball of clarity” as entrepreneurs. It’s reassuring for those in the turmoil of startup world to know that fact, and realize that if you keep going you will find your way and grow your company.

What inspired you to create your company?

After college, I had worked as a PR manager for a law firm for a year because I was considering applying to law school. But then after, I realized that I didn’t enjoy anything about the law so I went on to work in consulting for four years. During the financial crisis, my office in the Northeast shut down and I was laid off. At that point, I had a tough decision to make: “Do I look for a job, or do I start my own business?” After a few days of weighing the pros and cons, I decided to take the risk and launch a PR firm (originally Marquet Media, now Creative Development Agency.) It’s been 10+ years and I never looked back after that.

About a year ago, I decided to launch FemFounder.co (after receiving numerous requests from entrepreneurs who could not afford to hire a PR firm). FemFounder.co is a one-stop shop for female business owners that publishes content on anything related to business.

What was your biggest obstacle and failure in going from idea to business?

Lack of Clarity — Not knowing what industry I wanted to serve cost me a lot of time and money. When I first started out in business, one week I would want to do professional services, the next I would want to focus on medical and health, and then the next I would want to focus on fashion. I would get so frustrated and agonize because I wouldn’t know where to spend my time. I finally figured out where my best contacts were and my strongest skill set and committed to beauty/lifestyle/wellness. Once I figured out the markets I would serve, it was a huge relief. I could finally get back to serving my clients without agonizing where my passion fell.

What’s next?

I am working on a variety of projects but the most interesting projects we’re working on right now are launching the high-fashion model agency DebutModels.com, growing emerging beauty brand BubblePopBeauty.com, working with entrepreneur Dr. Tasha Holland-Korneygay, as well as rebranding the clean beauty magazine and e-commerce platform, TheBeautyLyst.com.

What is a life or business hack that you recommend to help other female founders?

You can have both a life and a business. Make it a point to take time for yourself and take care of yourself. No one else is going to take care of you but you.

Please share your best piece of advice for aspiring female founders.

Being an entrepreneur is tough, can be lonely at times, and can suck overall. But when things get tough (and trust me they will), make sure to have a strong support system and make friends with other entrepreneurs who can relate. It’ll be a lot easier to weather the bad times. I have my FemFounder.co network so it makes the process of entrepreneurship much easier.

It’s Female Founder Friday, and you’re going to love the woman entrepreneur behind Greenloons. Irene Lane holds an MBA in International Finance and was in the corporate world for 12 years as a consultant for federal government agencies as well as private information technology companies. In 2010 she made the leap into entrepreneurship when she founded Greenloons, a company that provides trusted, transparent information about authentic ecotourism travel experiences available around the world. Their goal is to make it easy to directly connect travelers with meaningful, unique and awesome vacations. Greenloons accomplishes this by working with eco-certified guiding companies and boutique accommodations that have been independently verified as focusing on the triple bottom line of social empowerment, economic viability, and environmental responsibility.

So, if you’re curious how someone who worked in the Information Technology department of eBay won the National Geographic 50 Tours of a Lifetime Award, or simply want to learn more about authentic ecotourism, don’t miss Irene’s answers and advice below!

What inspired you to create your company?

I was inspired to start the company after I realized that there was a lot of misinformation about ecotourism and very little transparency. I wanted to create a resource that would present the facts about ecotourism and let travelers, especially families, decide for themselves which certified tourism companies and experiences to support, based on their own values.

What was your biggest obstacle and failure in going from idea to business?

Initially, the website was set up (at great expense) to take automatic bookings. However, I realized within six months that eco-conscious travelers were more interested in customizing their travel experiences. The lesson of pivoting with a smile was learned early on.

What’s next?

We’ve recently expanded to offering customized culinary experiences for restauranteurs, study abroad experiences for university students, and retreat experiences for smaller organizations. While many clients are pleasantly surprised by the high-quality options for engaging their clientele, they are most amazed by how much sustainable criteria fits into their organizational mission and goals. That ‘a-ha’ moment is magical.

What is a life or business hack that you recommend to help other female founders?

It may sound trite, but I recommend staying focused. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of “being everything to everyone” as many women do. What has helped me is to utilize a Desire Map Planner from Danielle LaPorte. For each day’s schedule, she provides a question / prompt thought such as “In terms of my livelihood, my greatest desire is…” and “If you didn’t do work today, what would you do instead?” and “I feel most free when…” Taking a few minutes to ground myself with this prompt has produced great results.

Being passionate about your company and why you created it shows through – as does the reverse. Entrepreneurship is fantastic, and some days you will feel on top of the world. Then on other days, you will question your sanity. Staying true to your passion will get you through those choppy days.